Black Lives Matter

To our friends in State College, Centre County and beyond,

We usually celebrate June as National Homeownership month, but the protests against police killings of unarmed black people taking place around the globe over the last 3 weeks have given us pause. These protests are as much about racial injustice as they are about police violence, and we know that housing policies and practices have long been a tool used to reinforce racial injustice in this country.

As an organization tasked with preserving land and housing for community good, we recognize that we are unable to fulfill our mission of advancing access to safe, stable housing for all without first addressing the detrimental effects of structural racism in housing. We unite in solidarity with those demanding justice and commit to taking decisive action to better support and engage Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to hold positions of influence and leadership in our organization. We condemn a culture of white supremacy in which police brutality and housing segregation is the result, and we state, unequivocally, that Black Lives Matter. 

As we listen, learn, and reflect in the coming weeks on concrete actions we can take, we seek to center the voices, experiences and needs of our BIPOC neighbors. 

The following resources (organizations, reading materials, podcasts and more) we have found helpful, and hope that you may as well. 

In humble solidarity,
Colleen Ritter 

- Segregated By Design (video)
- Arc of Justice (film), documentary about the first community land trust founded in Albany, GA in 1969.
- Race for Profit, by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (book) 
- Evicted, by Matthew Desmond (book)
- Mapping the Black Homeownership Gap (article, Urban Institute, February 26, 2018)
- The Geography of Inequality (article, American Political Science Review, June 2020) 
-  There Goes the Neighborhood (podcast)
- Scene on Radio, Season 2: Seeing White (podcast) 
- Race Forward, organization that catalyzes movement building for racial justice. Their website has many racial justice tools, modules, videos and more. 
- The Great Unlearn, website/curricula. Author and activist Rachel Cargle has created an online self-paced learning platform to guide people through the unlearning of white supremacy. Available on Patreon and Instagram.